Chapter 6: Whispers of Poison

The next morning, Leo arrived at Aethel Corp with the quiet satisfaction of a chess master who had just executed a perfect knight's fork. Amanda's panicked phone calls to HR had echoed through the office until well past closing time, and the overnight email traffic suggested she'd spent considerable effort trying to expedite the replacement process.

But Leo's real work was just beginning.

During his lunch break, he made his way to The Grind, a trendy coffee shop three blocks from Aethel Corp that had become the unofficial gathering place for the city's young professionals. The lunch crowd buzzed with the familiar energy of ambition and networking, conversations flowing between startup ventures and career advancement strategies.

Leo had done his research. The forums dedicated to Aethel Corp's Public Selection Program remained active long after the hiring process concluded, serving as an informal support network for the new employees navigating the corporation's Byzantine bureaucracy. These were the people Amanda desperately needed to recruit from—the top-tier candidates who had survived the intellectual gauntlet but were still deciding whether to accept their offers.

He spotted his first target immediately: Jessica Chen, a brilliant economist whose test scores had been mentioned in the same breath as Leo's during orientation. She sat alone at a corner table, pecking at a salad while scrolling through what appeared to be job listings on her laptop.

"Jessica?" Leo approached with the casual confidence of someone extending a friendly greeting. "Leo Vance, from the selection program. Mind if I join you?"

Jessica looked up with the wary expression of someone who'd learned to be cautious about unexpected encounters. "Oh, hi Leo. Of course, sit down. How are things at Aethel Corp?"

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about," Leo said, settling into the chair across from her. "I heard through the grapevine that you're still considering your offer. Thought you might appreciate some insider perspective."

The phrase "insider perspective" carried exactly the weight Leo had intended. Jessica leaned forward slightly, her full attention now focused on him.

"Honestly, I've been going back and forth," Jessica admitted. "The salary isn't spectacular, but the job security and benefits are attractive. What's your experience been like?"

Leo paused, as if carefully considering how much to reveal. The hesitation was calculated—too eager and he'd seem unreliable, too reserved and she'd lose interest.

"The work itself is intellectually stimulating," he began truthfully. "The problems are complex, the data sets are fascinating, and there's real potential to make meaningful contributions."

Jessica nodded, clearly hoping for reassurance about her pending decision.

"But," Leo continued, his tone shifting slightly, "there are some management challenges you should probably know about. Particularly in certain sections."

"Management challenges?"

Leo glanced around the coffee shop, as if ensuring their conversation wouldn't be overheard. "I probably shouldn't get into specifics, but let's just say that some managers are more supportive of professional development than others. The promises made during interviews don't always translate to reality."

Jessica's expression sharpened. "What kind of promises?"

"Flexibility for additional training, support for professional growth, that sort of thing." Leo's voice carried the weight of personal experience. "It turns out that some managers view outside opportunities as... how did she put it... 'inadequate excuses' that interfere with company priorities."

The specific phrasing wasn't accidental. Leo had crafted these conversations to plant seeds of doubt without crossing into outright slander. He was simply sharing his lived experience, filtered through the lens of someone who'd been personally affected by managerial inconsistency.

"That's concerning," Jessica said. "During my interview, I specifically asked about professional development support."

"Who was your interview with?"

"Amanda Sterling, from Section 7."

Leo's pause was perfectly timed—long enough to suggest significance, brief enough to maintain plausible deniability.

"Ah," he said simply.

"You know her?"

"She's my current manager," Leo replied, his tone carefully neutral. "Let's just say that her communication style can be... challenging. Especially when it comes to work-life balance and professional growth opportunities."

Jessica leaned back in her chair, processing the implications. "What exactly happened?"

Leo spent the next fifteen minutes sharing his story—not as a bitter complaint, but as a cautionary tale delivered with the measured objectivity of someone who'd already secured his escape route. He described Amanda's vanishing act during his first months, the proxy management through Craig, and the midnight text message that had nearly derailed his examination.

"She texted you at 10 PM the night before your exam?" Jessica's voice carried genuine outrage.

"With threats about my performance review if I didn't abandon the opportunity," Leo confirmed. "Called it an 'inadequate excuse' for requesting remote work."

"But you passed anyway?"

Leo allowed himself a small smile. "Top five percent. Got a much better offer from the Ministry of Economic Development."

The impact on Jessica was immediate and visible. Here was concrete proof that Amanda's sabotage attempts were not only cruel but ultimately counterproductive. Leo represented everything Jessica hoped to achieve—professional advancement through merit and determination.

"So you're leaving?"

"Two weeks' notice as of yesterday," Leo confirmed. "Which brings me to why I wanted to talk to you. Amanda is going to be desperate to fill my position, and she'll probably reach out to people from our selection group. I just thought you should have the full picture before making any decisions."

Jessica nodded slowly, her laptop forgotten as she processed the implications. "I appreciate you telling me this. It definitely gives me some things to think about."

They parted ways twenty minutes later, with Jessica promising to "carefully consider all factors" in her decision. Leo knew that phrase was corporate speak for "absolutely not happening."

The next day, Leo repeated the process with David Kim, another high-scoring candidate who'd been offered a position in Section 7. Then Marcus Rodriguez, who'd been considering accepting a lateral transfer from his current consulting firm. Each conversation followed the same pattern—casual encounter, friendly advice, shared experience.

Leo never spoke with malice or obvious bias. He simply told his story, allowing each listener to draw their own conclusions about Amanda's management style and the wisdom of accepting positions under her supervision. The facts spoke for themselves: broken promises, vindictive behavior, and a management philosophy that prioritized control over employee development.

By Thursday afternoon, the whispers had begun circulating through the selection program's informal networks. Leo monitored the online forums from his cubicle, watching as his carefully planted seeds began to sprout into broader conversations about managerial quality and workplace culture at Aethel Corp.

The discussions were surprisingly sophisticated. These were brilliant minds who'd survived a brutal selection process, and they approached Leo's warnings with the same analytical rigor they'd applied to their examinations. They cross-referenced his experiences with their own interview notes, compared Amanda's promises with documented company policies, and reached their own independent conclusions about the risks of working under her supervision.

Friday morning brought the first confirmation of Leo's strategy's effectiveness. Jessica Chen called Amanda's office to formally decline her job offer, citing "concerns about management philosophy and professional development support." Marcus Rodriguez followed two hours later with a similar rejection.

Leo watched through the glass walls of Amanda's office as she took each call, her expression growing increasingly strained with every polite but firm refusal. By noon, she was on the phone with HR again, her voice carrying the sharp edge of someone whose carefully constructed plans were collapsing in real time.

The beauty of Leo's approach was its plausible deniability. He'd never explicitly told anyone to reject their offers, never engaged in obvious sabotage or corporate espionage. He'd simply shared his personal experience with fellow professionals who'd asked for advice. If those professionals chose to make employment decisions based on that information, that was their prerogative as informed adults.

Amanda couldn't prove he was deliberately undermining her recruitment efforts, but the pattern was becoming impossible to ignore. Every candidate she tried to recruit from the selection program either declined immediately or asked pointed questions about her management style that suggested they'd received detailed briefings about her behavior.

As Leo packed up his desk Friday evening, he could see Amanda through her office windows, surrounded by personnel files and recruitment materials. She was working late, probably trying to identify alternative candidates or expedite the hiring process through different channels.

But Leo knew something she didn't: the damage was spreading beyond just the selection program graduates. Word was beginning to circulate through the broader professional networks about Section 7's "management challenges." The story of Amanda's midnight text message had taken on a life of its own, becoming a cautionary tale about toxic workplace culture and managerial overreach.

By Monday morning, Amanda Sterling would discover that her reputation had become a liability in her own recruitment efforts. The very candidates she needed most were the ones most likely to have heard whispered warnings about accepting positions under her supervision.

Leo smiled as he walked toward the elevator, his weekend plans already forming. There were still several candidates from the selection program he hadn't spoken with yet, and he'd heard rumors about a professional networking event where many of them would be gathering.

His resignation had been just the opening move. Now the real game was beginning, and Amanda was about to learn that some subordinates were far more dangerous on their way out than they'd ever been while trapped inside her corporate cage.